The fetish of “streetfighting”

The allure of “streetfighting” disappears pretty quickly once someone sincere begins training in a combat sport. The idea of beating up the average man holds no glamour when you spend your days battling with fellow athletes who are at least as skilled as you are at the art of hand to hand combat. This is why the fetishization that so many men who maintain an immature relationship to violence have – can fade away within the proper environment. As Oscar Wilde noted: “As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.” When you are working in an environment that is based on meritocratic competition, when you tap people out and get tapped out, daily, when you punch and get punched, when you understand what physical conflict itself feels like – it ceases to maintain its glamour. It ceases being wicked.